NETWORK TESTING LABS COMPARES ARGENT TO MOM 2005 Network Testing Labs, one of the world's leading independent research companies, concluded that "Argent's suite had a smaller footprint, was more scalable, supported more platforms, had a more responsive and intuitive user interface and gave us more useful reports," the report says. "Argent's suite of monitoring products emerged from our testing with flying colors."

***Commentary: Real Admins Use the Command Line by Paul Thurrott, News Editor, thurrott@windowsitpro.com

When Microsoft was freely handing out certifications back in the mid-1990s to anyone with a pen and a heartbeat, there was a real concern that Microsoft's certification program would become a joke, offering no real benefits to the certifiers or certified. And, of course, that's exactly what happened. So Microsoft overhauled its certification program, made the tests and certifications more meaningful, and turned things around. But there's still a strange stigma hanging over the heads of Windows-based administrators, who are often perceived as being less technical, less knowledgeable, and in some cases, even less employable than their UNIX counterparts

Well, those days are coming to a close. Through a strange series of coincidences, Microsoft appears to have warmed to the UNIX-style command line interfaces that inspired the company to earlier go in a completely different direction with the GUI-based administration tools we're familiar with in Windows. Part of this shift is common sense: Many repetitive administrative tasks need to be scriptable so that they can be completed more efficiently. Part of it was the rise of XML, a text-based descriptive markup language that is both standards-based and malleable from within text editors and scripts. And part of it, of course, is the maturity of Windows-based servers. Once Microsoft hit the high points, from a functional standpoint, the company naturally began looking to fill in the areas in which its server products still lagged behind the UNIX and UNIX-like competition.

Let's look at three examples of how Microsoft's new command-line religion is dramatically changing its products--and for the better.

I've written a lot about Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, Microsoft's latest messaging server. There's a lot to like about Exchange 2007, from its roles-based administration model and componentized design to its x64-based scalability to its comprehensive security features. But to me, the most impressive change in Exchange 2007 is that the server was completely designed around the Windows PowerShell (formerly code-named Monad) command line and scripting environment. Like a UNIX server, Exchange 2007's GUI tools were built on top of this command-line interface, and not vice-versa as with earlier Microsoft solutions. This is a revolutionary change, and one that administrators will immediately benefit from as they discover the rich capabilities of PowerShell.

The next version of Windows Server, codenamed Longhorn, includes a new Server Core installation option that dispenses with the Windows GUI all together and provides a base line of functionality that's perfect for infrastructure servers such as DNS, DHCP, and so on. What's truly interesting about Server Core, however, is that it represents the logical conclusion of Microsoft's "secure by design, secure in deployment" mantra: Because Longhorn is componentized, Server Core, like all other Longhorn installation types, includes only that code needed to generate the services it supplies. It is, quite literally, as secure as it can be. By stripping Windows to its most basic parts, Microsoft has limited what the server can do, but it's also limited what can go wrong. Humorous bit: When Microsoft demonstrates this feature publicly, it routinely gets rowdy applause from admin crowds. You guys are such geeks.

Finally, even Vista gets into the command-line interface game, sort of. You might recall that earlier Windows versions used a simple boot.ini file to determine the configuration of the system on boot up. Although this behavior was determined by a text file, it was controlled via a GUI tool in the System Properties dialog box. In Vista (as in Longhorn Server), boot.ini has been replaced by a boot file named Boot Configuration Data (BCD). It's locked down, so you can't edit it easily, and Microsoft--get this--supplies only a command-line tool, bcdedit.exe, for editing BCD features. BCD comes with a new set of terminology, naturally, and if you want to set options such as the boot manager timeout or which OS options appear in the menu, you'll need to grok the command line. (I do expect, however, that enterprising admins will construct GUI front-ends to this.)

What this all means for Windows-based administrators is that it's time to bone up on your typing and scripting skills. There's a brave new world out there, and if you want to take advantage of it, you'll need to leave the familiarity and comfort of the Windows GUI behind.

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***From the Community FAQ: Vista Sleep Modes by John Savill, http://www.windowsitpro.com/windowsnt20002003faq

Q: What's the different between Windows Vista's sleep and hybrid sleep modes?

Find the answer at http://www.windowsitpro.com/Articles/ArticleID/95044/95044.html

Results of Previous Poll: The voting has closed in Windows IT Pro's nonscientific Instant Poll for the question, "Have you tested your disaster recovery plan (DRP)?" Here are the results from the 428 votes: - 32% Yes, we test our DRP regularly - 7% Yes, we tested our DRP when we developed it - 17% We have a DRP, but we haven't tested it - 17% No, we're still working on our DRP - 26% No, we don't have a DRP New Instant Poll The next Instant Poll question is, "When will your organization deploy Vista?" Go to the Windows IT Pro home page and submit your vote for a) Within 6 months, b) Within 12 months, c) Within 18 months, d) Already deployed it, or e) Have no plans to deploy it. http://www.windowsitpro.com/magazine

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***New and Improved by Blake Eno, products@windowsitpro.com

Simplify IT Asset Management RTO Software announced a new product, RTO Discover, which maintains asset information and inventory of hardware and software. This includes software license tracking capabilities that provides information on deployment locations, number of licenses, when they expire, and the users who have been assigned to the licenses. You can also use RTO Discover for dependency maps, which let you obtain blueprints of relationships between servers, applications, and resources. The software also provides different views of your infrastructure, providing an infrastructure view, configuration view, and application view. RTO Discover is slated to be available for purchase in March 2007 or earlier. For more information, contact RTO Software at 678-987-4300 or 866-987-2900. http://www.rtosoft.com Tell Us About a Hot Product and Get a T-Shirt! Have you used a product that changed your IT experience by saving you time or easing your daily burden? Tell us about the product, and we'll send you a T-shirt if we write about the product in a future Windows IT Pro What's Hot column. Send your product suggestions with information about how the product has helped you to mailto:whatshot@windowsitpro.com.

==== Events and Resources ==== http://www.windowsitpro.com/go/researchit Do you know the clues and secrets to effective disaster recovery? Lucky mates will win a Weekly Prize of a $25 Best Buy Gift Card or a Grand Prize of a $100 Best Buy Gift Card. Find the buried treasure by uncovering the secrets to Web filtering. Complete this quiz correctly and you could be a winner! http://popquiz.windowsitpro.com/stbernardtreasurehunt/

Do you want to create a fast, user-friendly, reliable, secure, and scalable backup strategy for your small-to-midsized business? Download this free white paper today and learn how you can break away from tape and move to disk-based data protection. http://www.windowsitpro.com/go/whitepaper/revinetix/tapetodisk/?code=0205updates

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Windows Connections 2007 April 1-4, 2007, Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress in Orlando, Florida. Dive into the new releases as Microsoft architects and industry experts present over 150 sessions! For more details, call 800-505-1201 or 203-268-3204. http://www.winconnections.com

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